


at the end of the world (we found a home)

by haengboks



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 09:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19391605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haengboks/pseuds/haengboks
Summary: they have no real destination. even chan knows not where he’s going; he just has a feeling. a feeling that something’s out there in the desert tonight and woojin, of course, doesn't let him go alone.





	at the end of the world (we found a home)

it’s not there.

everything’s accounted for but the hook sticking out under the masking tape with a neat ‘ car ’ written on it is empty. bang chan steps back and looks out the window of the guard post.

the car is there.

then, where’s the goddamned key? is it in the car? did one of them forget to hang it back? chan cursed under his breath, left the box ajar and strode out the post, making for the car. he doesn’t get very far.

“ what’s got you in a hurry? ”

he stops just a few steps out the door and spins round, towards where the voice is.

kim woojin stands leaning against the wall of the guard post, just a little away of the frame of the door. he watches chan, voice sweet, smile even sweeter. more specifically, hyunjin calls it the ‘ uh-huh ’ smile. the one a mother would give their child who’s up for a scolding or even worse, a beating. they meet eye to eye and hold for a few moments; woojin absolutely sweet and chan caught in the act, stuck in a weird angle with just his neck turned back to face chan.

“ why are you still up, it’s late. ” is all chan manages as he turns to face woojin head on. this way, the moonlight lights up all of him; pale face and fully geared while woojin’s shrouded in the shadow of the building. he almost feels _too_ exposed which is weird because they’ve certainly seen each other in way _less_.

“ _you’re_ up. ” woojin smiles and smiles.

chan’s eyes trail the rest of woojin, taking him in even in the shadow. his second-in-command mirrors him; black expedition outfit, heavy worn out combat boots. his pouches of little trinkets strapped snuggly to his person at his hip and thigh. he’s all geared up. eyes flicker back to meet woojin’s little crescents. for another long moment, they just watch each other but the leader knows; there’s no other way out of this.

“ i’m always up. ” chan sighs, almost like he’s surrendering. it is a form of surrender, he supposes.

woojin seems almost satisfied. he pushes himself off the wall and steps towards chan, putting the moon behind him to light up his outline, a halo around his person.

“ i’ll stay up with you, ” he says it like it’s so _easy_ ; like it’s truly so simple even when he’s promising chan so much more and they both know it.

“ it’s probably nothing, ” chan tries, tone placating, eyes casted down to the rough gravel, darting to the building behind woojin; anywhere but woojin’s face.

“ it can be a date in the desert, i don’t mind. ” woojin shrugs.

“ that’s why you should go back to sleep, i’ll be back by the morning. it’s nothing, ”

“ and what if it is something. ”

finally, chan’s eyes flick back to woojin’s. he’s no longer smiling; no longer at ease. they hold eye contact and it feels like there’s only the two of them around, isolated, like the world ends just beyond the other.

“ i’ll be okay, ” the leader reaches out with their eyes locked, calloused fingers crossing the distance between the two with ease, curling itself around woojin’s wrist before sliding down. the second-in-command’s fist uncurls and lets chan’s finger glide into the spaces, intertwining their hands, pressing close.

woojin gives him a little squeeze. “ and i’ll be there to make sure of it. ” the way he says it is not quite a challenge but it certainly leaves no space for argument.

neither looks away; chan searching woojin’s face for something he know he would never find and woojin matches his intensity, letting chan see and search all he wants, confident.

the moment holds out before chan sighs and visibly deflates, shoulders drooping, making him appear slighter. tired.

“ guess we better get on our way. ”

they have no real destination. even chan knows not where he’s going; he just has a feeling. a _feeling_ that something’s out there in the desert tonight.

woojin sits on the passenger side, staring out at the vast nothingness. the desert is quiet tonight, no winds, no shifting grains. silent except for their engine sounds as they zooms along. chan steers them right seven minutes after turning left. woojin glances over to his leader.

it’s not often that he gets these feelings but they are a thing. chan describes it as a tingle in his fingers, a voice calling out to him in the back of his mind, all sounds no syllabuses; like no matter how hard he tries, he can’t make anything intelligent of it. and that makes him anxious, frustrates him to no end so he _goes_. follows the lead in his mind, the twitch of his fingers and he goes, to find out what’s calling to him, to see what could have possibly beckoned him to them.

sometimes they find people, (though, most of them are _dead_ so perhaps ‘ corpses ’ would be more fitting) resources and shelters even. sometimes, the search ends even before they come across anything because the feeling simply, went away, and there is no longer a push, a sure navigator on their trip to nowhere.

those times are the toughest. meaningless trips that dig into chan, hard, suffocating him in his own skin. it’s the frustration of almost grasping it but not really, the not understanding what it’s supposed to be, to _mean_ , and the fear that it could have been something important; rare resources, a better shelter, a wandering survivor, anything that could aid in their survival.

“ i’m responsible for all of you! ” he’d shout, jaws locked tight, lashing out when woojin comes too close; consoling words spoken one too many times, warm hands trying for comfort.

neither of which chan deems himself worthy to have.

it’s a heavy burden to bear, four other lives weighing down his shoulders, threatening to submerge him in the ever-climbing waves, drowning him.

he’s barely twenty, still trying to navigate the wastelands and its desert after leaving the dome he’s knew all his life. on top of that, he’s committed himself to leading their little rag-tag team in this dead society, trying to get by just one more day. just, one more day.

they’re too young for this dead world but the world doesn’t care. it’s survive or die; cruelly simple.

chan turns left, knuckles white where he has his hands clenched tight on the steering wheel. he stares straight ahead, scanning the sands for anything that could be his purpose. it’s a weird game of hide and seek, woojin supposes, to know that you’re to find something but never be sure what or who, even, it’ll be. he thinks to reach out and rest a hand on chan’s thigh but doesn’t. his leader can’t afford to lose focus.

chan stops the car an hour later, a couple hundred meters from some stone ruins. it probably used to be one of those skyscrapers or some building that was tall enough to avoid being completely buried by the sandstorm. he cuts the engine and with a look to woojin, jumps out the vehicle. woojin does the same.

there’s nowhere else to go, no clearer purpose but the ruins so woojin keeps pace with chan, surveying the ruins, trying to spot what they are here for.

it isn’t somewhere they’ve _never_ been; sure, it’s a bit of a drive out but for safety purposes, they’ve explored as far as they can go, to scout for anything worthy of note. the ruins is empty, most of the building inaccessible due to the collapse and the sand. it offers shelter from the elements but that’s it; nothing sustainable, nothing worth staying for.

when they near the ruins, a bullet whizzes past chan and hits the sand in the little space between the two of them. on instinct, woojin’s hand reaches for his own gun, intent on readying himself for the hostile. chan simply stops, looking at the ruins. woojin eyes him and turns his gaze to the stones.

when chan takes another step, another bullet whizzes past, this time on the other side of him, flying by above his shoulder. it’s a clear warning. _stay away_.

“ we mean no harm. ” chan shouts, making sure that his voice carries to whoever is shooting at them. this is their purpose tonight it seems.

there’s no reply but woojin supposes neither of them were waiting for one. chan gives the unseen gunman a moment and then he strides through the sand once more. woojin keeps pace. another bullet whizzes by, blowing by into the space between the two of them once more, cutting itself close to woojin. his left ear rings. chan looks back for a moment, scanning woojin.

the second in command gives him the briefest shake of the head. chan answers with a nod, turning back to the ruins.

“ if you need help, we can help you! this shelter won’t give you much but we have a camp nearby, we can help you. ” chan offers, undeterred by the raising threat of a becoming a human target board the closer he gets.

for a moment, woojin thinks it isn’t the most wise to reveal that information to someone they can’t even _see_. then again, the fact that they haven’t already have holes in them is indicative that the other party doesn’t mean to kill them, isn’t it?

“ let me help you, ” the leader’s voice carries in the quiet desert, perhaps too desperate and emotional. genuine.

there’s no reply but no bullets fly when they close the rest of the distance to the stone ruins.

there’s a boy in the ruins who can’t possibly be a day older than sixteen. the clothes upon his back bloodied in big splotches, skin dirty with grime and dirt but eyes impossibly fierce, hands steady around his handgun. he looks experienced, practiced. it’s a horrible world.

chan raises both his hands, holding them up by his head and woojin does the same. it is, after all, the most universal form of surrender. the boy simply watches them, dark eyes darting from chan to woojin and then back to chan again. the boy doesn’t speak and neither does the two of them; there is nothing else to be said. just a decision to be make.

he seems to take them in, scanning them up and down, perhaps weighing the pros and cons, still deciding if he’ll trust them. it’s a painful standstill in the deserted building. until the shuffling starts.

it’s unnoticeable at first and woojin almost writes it off as the sound of the sands until rough coughs accompany the shuffling. there’s someone else in here. and by the sounds of it, they’re not in the best condition.

“ seungmin hyung? ” a weak, scratchy voice comes from beyond the boy – seungmin apparently – but he doesn’t look back, doesn’t flinch, simply watching chan and woojin, scrutinising them for even the slightest twitch, on higher alert.

“ hyung, ” the other boy steps into the line of light, a hand clutching the front of his similarly bloodied shirt, eyes squinting like he can barely focus his sight on anything in front of him. he shuffles towards seungmin with much difficultly, seeming to not have noticed either chan or woojin. there’s a bright flush to the boy, too red to be considered a healthy glow and the closer he comes, the more prominent his labored breathing becomes.

the boy finishes his last few steps with his head hanging, like he can barely hold it up any longer, walking straight into seungmin, bumping the crown of his head to seungmin’s back. he disappears behind seungmin’s frame; so small, so fragile. a cough rattles out of him and woojin winces. it sounds _bad_. seungmin’s eyes flick to him.

“ hyung, _hurts_ , ” the boy whines, barely catching his breath.

“ please let us help you. help _him_ , ” chan whispers, soft, like he’s afraid to startle the younger boy hidden behind seungmin.

the gun is at the ready, safety off and seungmin’s index finger lingering too close by, chan and woojin teetering between life and death .

another cough rips out of the frail boy and it’s absolutely deafening in the still building.

the gun lowers and there’s a shade of something else in seungmin’s eyes. he looks so much impossibly younger that woojin’s heart simply aches. 

there isn’t much to pack up, just two rucksack bags that don’t even contain much.

chan offers to take them back to the car for seungmin but the younger just slings both bags to his front and coax the feverish boy onto his back with quiet words. with everything strapped onto himself, he watches chan and woojin.

the leader gives woojin a look and they start for the car, only the soft crunch of sand indicating that seungmin is following behind them.

woojin opens the back door, and helps both boys onto the vehicle when it becomes obvious seungmin can’t quite lower the younger boy into the car. for a moment, seungmin is alarmed, swinging away from woojin when he comes too close, hands hovering above the boy on his back. there’s a groan at seungmin’s sudden movement. chan stands on the driver side, hand on the handle of the vehicle, observing the situation.

“ i just want to help you bring him in, ” woojin explains, gesturing to the boy and then the backseat door. seungmin seems to consider, eyes darting between woojin and chan. he walks back towards woojin when a chain of coughs rattle the silence.

when they are all seated, seungmin with his arm around the fast asleep boy, eyes cast out to the sands, chan starts the car, bringing them all back to camp just as the sun peeks above the horizon.

as they near the camp, seungmin struggling to stay awake in the backseat to the lull of the engine hum, chan’s fingers tap on the steering wheel, a constant rhythm, _tap_ , _tap_ , _tap_. woojin reaches over to rest a hand on his leader’s thigh, squeezing it once. chan’s fingers stop and then, a _tap_.

as they cross the fence line, changbin emerges out the guard post, one hand resting on the knife along his hips, watching the car as it rolls to a slow stop.

as the car slows, seungmin seems to come back to himself, blinking rapidly to wake himself up, the line of his body tensing as he looks all around, taking in as much as he can see beyond the windows.

“ this is it, welcome to the camp, ” woojin introduces with a warm smile as he turns back to meet seungmin’s eyes. chan steps off as just changbin rounds by the driver’s side.

“ get hyunjin, woojin will be over in a minute with the new guys, ” chan instructs and changbin bends down to look into the backseat windows. seungmin tightens his hold on the sleeping boy as their eyes meet.

“ got it. jisung’s heating up beans for breakfast, ” he provides as he turns away and chan heaves a hefty sigh before turning to the backdoor, popping it open easily and reaching in for the sleeping boy. seungmin watches him.

“ we need you to stop by medic first, just to the both of you out. then you can have breakfast and just, rest up as much as you’ll like. ” woojin shares, watching the boy who’s staring at chan. there’s a silent tug of war and eventually, chan’s allowed to bring the boy out the vehicle. he goes with a whimper, shifting in chan’s arms. seungmin and woojin exit the car together and the four of them walk to the medical room. hyunjin’s by the door when they near the building and smiles, “ good morning and hi! ” he greets seungmin with much enthusiasm but doesn’t crowd him, just waving them in.

chan settles the boy into the bed by the window and seungmin follows over, sitting at the foot of the bed. hyunjin shuffles over to make small talk with the new boy and woojin unstraps most of his equipment, settling them in a pile on one of the counters.

the leader hands woojin his coat, swiped off from the hanger on his way from the beds over to where the second in command’s standing. woojin takes it with a quiet thanks and slips it on.

“ i’ll go make sure jisung doesn’t destroy the kitchen heating up beans, ” chan rests a hand on woojin’s shoulder.

as he slips on a pair of gloves, woojin hums. “ hopefully you aren’t too late. ” chan gives another hefty sigh even as a smile tugs on his lips.

“ i’ll bring it over later, ” the leader’s voice drops to a whisper, pulling away and woojin catches the retracting hand, intertwining their fingers.

“ thanks, ” the older smiles and chan mirrors it. for a moment, they stay like that, intertwined hands in the space between their bodies. with a squeeze, chan untangles their fingers and leaves, closing the door behind him. woojin turns to hyunjin who’s doing most of the talking in his conversation with seungmin, the latter simply nodding along dazedly.

it’s okay. they’ll be okay.

chan’s _feeling_ brought them to two boys in the desert. it’s the first in a _long_ time that they’ve encountered **people** instead of corpses. living, breathing, surviving _people_.

he knows chan will offer to let the boys stay; they can rework rations, reshuffle the sleeping places, their camp can work them in, no matter what it takes. only, if they want to of course.

( but chan and woojin are both known to be _very_ _good_ at persuading. he’s perhaps a little proud of it. )

**Author's Note:**

> it's been Years since i've written something and this is just a random snippet that i thought up, i don't know if i'll do more or if more things will come but i fell in love with stray kids and i love apocalyptic things so, we'll see i guess. also, i forgot how tags work but if there's anything more you think Have to be tagged, please let me know! i checked the story through myself, so please pardon me for any errors you notice ajhsd 
> 
> in the meantime, thank you so much for reading this and i hope you have a good day!


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